New Sweater Number For Alzner

The Caps' new No. 1 defenseman, Karl Alzner, will indeed wear No. 27 in his second NHL game tonight, the team confirmed moments ago. Growing up, Alzner was a big fan of Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer, who, of course, also wears No. 27.

"If you heard of Tom Poti's injury and wondered if it might affect the blueline in Hershey, your fears were well grounded. The Capitals announced Friday morning that Bryan Helmer has been signed to an NHL contract and recalled. We found out yesterday boarding the bus that this was going to happen, because Bryan stayed behind to make the journey to D.C. today. The Bears in turn have signed defenseman Patrick Wellar to a professional tryout contract. Wellar had been playing this year in Reading (ECHL). Doug Yingst called the Royals yesterday just prior to our departure, and we literally picked up Wellar on our way to Albany. Really. Stopped off Route 61 and met him in the Rite Aid parking lot on Thanksgiving Day, threw his equipment bag underneath the bus and continued on our way."

greg,
bears STH are allowed only if a cap STH can't go. heard a couple in my section turned ankles heading up the stairs on wednesday and are game time decisions. stay by the phone, you may get the callup.

ahbest,
he probably didnt want to look like a pushy rookie. now that he's got one game under his belt, he's feeling cocky. actually, they probably didn't have any 27's lying around for wednesday but had the 47's from preseason...not sure if they have a team seamstress who does all of that or if they have to order them....

mauree, i havn't been to all the games. but take a look at the rink when the lights are up after they zam the ice. lots of puddles in the ruts. tells me the ice isn't nearly cold enough. not cold=not hard=bad.

Not much will happen about the ice at the phonebooth because Abe Polin doesn't want to pay for an upgraded system. Until Abe sells his majority ownership in the building, the ice will be mediocre, esp. when it's warm and humid. The NHL suggested ice level dehumidifiers to help the ice get harder and Abe vetoed it -- last year. Expect more ankle, knee, and groin injuries in early/late season play.

Since when did all the players get hurt on home ice? Last I checked, most of them got hurt on the road. For those of you that think the ice sucks - well, if it posts a 8-0-1 record, then so be it. Even longer if you go back to last season.

wendel2, Ovechkin did not say bless you when Backstrom sneezed... he should be fined!

Posted by: _828 | November 28, 2008 3:26 PM
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Expanding on your thought...why is it only the Caps who are injured by the ice? If it's so terrible you would think the visiting teams would be dropping like flies too.

828, the point is, injuries like knees, ankles, groin can be (i repeat, can be. not saying they can all be attributed to it) caused by bad ice. the point is the team has a lot of them right now and it seems like many of them are happening on home ice. nobody (except for you) is suggesting the other "contact" injuries have anything to do w/ vc ice.

@ 828 -- If these are correct, posted by dccapsfan1, then the ice quality is a serious consideration. Clearly, not all injuries are due to ruts, water, and all around chunky ice. That being said, if the ice quality can be improved and lessen injuries, I'm all for it. Not much one can do about getting slammed into the wall by Pronger -- besides avoiding the hit:

Enjoy the VC now becuase when Ted gets the team, we're all going to have deal with rush hour traffic to see the Caps in Virginia, where all the signs make oh so much sense. Ever notice how people in Virginia give you directions with street names, but when you get to Virginia all the street signs have route numbers?

mauree - relax man, I am just point out that the ice was not causing MANY of the injuries like people are saying. It could have had something to do with a few, but how can that be proven? Maybe it's the skates, the tape job, etc...

I guess my point is - there is always something to complain about and you always seem to find it on here.

828 ...if u are hurting and skate on bad ice it will aggravate the injury........we are just saying it is a shame that our players are negatively impacted by having to play on less that acceptable ice.

I thought I was gonna be able to go tonight, but it looks like I'm still sidelined with a back injury. If anyone is interested in two aisle seats in Section 413, let me know ASAP so we can make arrangements. I'll monitor this thread for a while, and I'll post again if someone takes them.

828,
certainly there are lots of injuries do to normal hockey stuff. concussions, et al. just saying we have and have now in the past, had a lot of stuff not necessarily due to contact. maybe its in line with what other teams have, maybe it's bad luck, maybe its just that they all seem to be happening at once. its just that when they all happen in a short time and mostly on home ice where you have played less than half your games, well, one starts to wonder. plus it was a slow day at work and a boys mind wanders and the corporate firewall blocks...well, you get the picture.

tess, I nearly lost my water through my nose at that. Walton makes me laugh.
Just got back from DC. Will post a link to pictures from the Thrashers game later. Pictures from morning skate (what I saw, stupid metro) will take a bit longer. The new camera's a bit of a dinosaur and takes film.
First Caps game I've been to where the guys won. I'd forgotten how great the energy can be in that building. This injury bug is ridiculous. Hopefully it likes warm weather and will leave soon. Wishing the guys a speedy recovery and plenty of rest until then.